The 12 Most Powerful Christians in Hollywood

Hollywood may have a well-deserved reputation for being a spiritual wasteland, but faith is hardly absent from Tinseltown.

Philip Anschutz

How does a multibillionaire former oilman and co-owner of several sports teams find himself on a list of Hollywood's most powerful Christians? By bankrolling some of the most critically acclaimed and financially successful family films of recent years, including "Ray" and "The Chronicles of Narnia." Both were created by production companies Anschutz founded to bring high-quality, uplifting family fare to theaters--Bristol Bay targeting adults and Walden Media for children. Walden's "Narnia," was marketed directly to evangelical Christians, who flocked to the film and helped propel it to the Number 2 spot for 2005 (behind the final "Star Wars") with nearly $300 million at the box office. Anschutz, a Denver resident active in conservative political causes, said he was driven to get into the movie business by his anger at the focus on sex and violence in mainstream films. "My wife and I now have a number of grandchildren who are growing up surrounded by products of this culture," Anschutz said in 2004. "So four or five years ago I decided to stop cursing the darkness."